Hey! Let's Celebrate Boxing Day!

Well, here we are in England, experiencing an English Christmas. However, it will be in a small flat, without a tree and a fireplace and our family all around us. But, you know, that’s okay. This has been and will be our grand adventure. We are looking forward to this time. It will be good for us and, hopefully, will be good for our family. On Monday, which is our prep-day, we were taking the train into London. Sorry it wasn’t meant to be. The weather has been completely rotten and we will be going another time. 

Tuesday, I AM GETTING A HAIRCUT! It’s been too long between cuts and I am ready to admit that I’ve have been exceedingly spoiled in the past. Holly, my daughter, is so close and I can just hop into the car and drive to her salon for a quick makeover. Let me tell you, I will NEVER take her for granted again! Hope that makes you happy, girl. You are a regular life-saver.

Tuesday is also Christmas Eve (just in case you didn’t already know). We will be having a fun breakfast, courtesy of the Christensen’s. They are fixing biscuits and sausage gravy, that’s SOS for all you military guys, with hash browns etc. Then in the late afternoon we are getting together for an early Christmas dinner. Gammon (Ham) and all the fixings. I’m am, again, doing the rolls.  We will be traveling up to Nottingham to see the Turner’s and probably see a wonderful English Christmas there. I can’t wait.  As many of you know, I will be turning the big 65 on Christmas day. Around here, you have to be at least 65 to have any creditability. If you are under that age you are just a kid—really. I need to tell you of an observation that our fellow temple worker, Steve Littlefield, said the other day, when he had had enough of serving with people who are mostly deaf, use canes, are a little stooped over and have a lot of senior moments. He said: “This is like working in a nursing home, not a temple.” However, I want to be quick to add that we really do love the people we serve with, all the time. And, we are just as bad as they are, most of the time.

Now, on to Boxing Day. (Click on the "Boxing Day" link for more info) This is a day that all the English tell me is just another Christmas Day. It stems from a very old tradition (traditions are very important to these people), in which the master of the manor would let his servants leave the day after Christmas to go and see their families. He would also give them a gift to celebrate the season. It would be put into a box for them to take to their homes. Thus, we have Boxing Day. It is considered a national holiday, I think. 

News Alert!!

We’ve had to almost cancel our Christmas Eve Breakfast and Dinner. The weather here has been awful for the whole weekend. High winds and lots of rain (we’re talking buckets and buckets of it). When we got up on Christmas Eve the whole bottom floor of the Accommodation Centre was completely flooded. X-nay on the breakfast and the dinner because our meeting/dining room is down there. The organizers have decided to hold it in the Lodge. Everyone is pitching in to do the cooking etc.

Garden path submerged in water

Streams overflowed their banks

Temple reflection pond overflowed

Small streams became rivers

New ponds of water appeared

Trees down everywhere

Damage caused by Christmas Eve winds and rain

Christmas Decorations blown over

"New" Manor House pond

By the time you read this post, we will have had our Christmas and talked to everyone to wish them our best.  And that is what we wish for all. Peace, happiness, good health and a very, very Merry Christmas. The English say Happy Christmas, so we will wish one of them for you too.

Lots of love:   Niel and Carolee (aka) Granny and Grumps

PS: And a very happy, happy Birthday to my darling twin sister, Holly!

Sister Johnson (Matron) discusses Christmas hymns at the

Christmas Devotional in the Manor House loft

President's Irwin and Crossland

Assistant temple matrons, Sisters Irwin and Crossland

Carolee playing the piano at the Christmas devotional

President Johnson leaves a wonderful message at the Christmas devotional

Christmas Devotional in the Manor House loft

President Johnson and Carolee

Christmas Devotional; More smoked salmon please!

Christmas Eve dinner in the hallways due to the flooded basement kitchen in the Accomodation Center

Christmas Eve dinner

Our Palestinian sister from Bethlehem

Christmas Eve with the Littlefields

The "Fat Boys"

Grandpa with his London Temple walking stick from Steve Littlefield, a Leatherman from mom and a "fat man" headband

Carolee's Birthday cake...the Magic Medicare Cake ;)

Treven's flower for Grandma Carolee

A welcome Christmas package

We LOVE our calendar

Contents of Christmas package

Hail on Christmas Day

Merry Christmas 2013

Angels, Wise Men and Shepherds came. We know it happened. We know He Lives. We know He is our Redeemer. We know He loved us enough to die for us. 

May our Heavenly Father bless you. We want to be with you all as an eternal family.

Love dad and mom, Granddad and Grandma

Christmas Comes Whether You Want it to or Not

It is true that when you are away from home you see the trappings of Christmas and the Holidays all around you, but you deny that it is really happening. It is just a way of coping with the fact that you are not where you want to be, enjoying family, Santa-ing, caroling, and seeing the snow. I (Carolee) have been experiencing this phenomena lately, however, last Sunday night at the Visitor Centre, the Spirit of Christmas came to me with full force. I am thankful for that. We were treated to an evening with two wonderful young men. One, a member of the Crawley Ward we attend, played a flute solo (with piano accompaniment) of O Holy Night. As many of you know, and from now on you better know, that it is not Christmas unless I either can sing or enjoy someone else performing O Holy Night. Period. I love that particular carol so much. Over the years Niel and I have heard some wonderful performances of that carol and it always brings the Spirit into my heart. Then we were treated to listen to another young man who entertained us with carols, some of which were written by him. He was spectacular!  He is a professional musician some of you may know about.  His name is James Conlee.

Also, during the evening, my new favorite speaker, Pres. Irwin, of the temple presidency, gave some really inspirational thoughts about Christmas. He talked about Good King Wenceslas. (That’s pronounced: Wen – ces – las.) I’ve sung and listened to arrangements of that particular carol all my life. Maybe some of my grandkids aren’t familiar with it. It would be great to learn about the message of that carol. I think it used to be in one of our old Hymnals. The message is really deeper than him being a good person, serving those who have less than himself. He provides others with the things they need and at the same time he leads the way for the little servant, whom he asks to accompany him on their trek. The message can be applied to us when follow in the footsteps of our Savior, as He leads us in doing good and going on our way in this difficult life. Please have your family sing it this Christmas, all the verses. You may need to study them to find their meaning as you sing it. It is truly a great story.

Good King Wencelas

Writing about carols reminds me that, through the miracle of today’s technology, we are able to listen to Christmas music on FM 100.3 on our laptop. We are kept up to day on the weather, roads etc too. Isn’t that great?

Our trip into London to see the lights and maybe do a little shopping has been postponed to another Monday. I’m sure there will plenty of pictures to share then. We have been delighted to have all the missionaries from the London South Mission come here for their annual Christmas get-together. The mission is large enough that they are spread out into four different days. Every Tuesday and Thursday we have them do a special session at the temple. It means that we get to see their bright, young faces and help them through their time with us at the temple. Love it. One of the sister temple workers started talking about how wonderful it is to see them and doesn’t it remind us of our own children going on missions. Well, I lost it. Then, Sister Anderson said: “Oh, don’t you have a missionary out?” Seriously.  It wasn’t just that I was thinking about Hermana Lancaster in the Bronx, (which I was), but I was also remembering my own two sons and their being gone at Christmas. I remember that we tried very hard to sing a carol to Brad in Spanish and he cried all the way through it. I think he was crying because of our terrible Spanish though. I also remember Ryan sending us a recording of them (the Elders) driving to somewhere, on a snowy highway, just to show us how incredibly straight the roads were. Well, the roads were incredibly straight and long, but we all ended up with motion sickness from watching the recording zip from one side of the road to the other and had to turn it off. They were great memories. GOD BLESS THE MISSIONARIES!

 I hope our lovely granddaughter, Hermana Lancaster, is feeling the Christmas Spirit in abundance. I’m sure that she is learning what Christmas is really all about, as we are, too, in England. All I need to do to do is think about my being in the heavenly choirs, singing Hosannas when the baby Jesus was born. I’m sure we were all there, singing together. 

“God bless us, everyone.”

Love to all of you at this special time of the year.

Carolee and Niel 

a.k.a. Granny and Grumps 

The Phenomenon That Is You

Sometimes to my dismay, I (Niel) have noticed physical and emotional tendencies of my children that are very familiar – because they are like my own. When my four daughters call, their voices all sound exactly the same. When my sons are stubborn and say or do things just like I would do, it is a reflection of me, even when I may cringe a little. One thing for sure. I am blessed in my ancestry and hope many positive character traits pass to my sons and daughters. 

I enjoyed these words by President James Faust, “In many ways each of us is the sum total of what our ancestors were. The virtues they had may be our virtues, their strengths our strengths, and in a way their challenges could be our challenges. Some of their traits may be our traits. I noticed a while ago that one of my great-grandsons, a toddler, seemed to have an interesting kind of a walk. My wife said, “He walks just like you do!” Now I wonder from whom I inherited this characteristic.”

“It is a joy to become acquainted with our forebears who died long ago. Each of us has a fascinating family history. Finding your ancestors can be one of the most interesting puzzles you young men and women can work on.”

“The great work of providing the saving ordinances for our kindred dead is a vital part of the threefold mission of the Church. We do this work for a purpose, which is to redeem our dead ancestors. Temple work is essential for both us and our kindred dead who are waiting for these saving ordinances to be done for them. It is essential because “we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect.” They need the saving ordinances, and we need to be sealed to them. For this reason it is important that we trace our family lines so that no one is left out.”  (James E. Faust, April 2003 Priesthood Session)

I (Carolee) have often said to my girls, when they rolled their eyes at something their Grandmother Eberhard said or did, that someday I’ll probably be just like her. I really do find myself doing or feeling like doing something that my mother would have done. It must be true that, what we are made of comes from those who preceded us. Even though I am like my mother in many ways, she always told me that I was a lot like my father. She and I weren’t always as close as we should have been because of that. I think I intimidated her. But I know with all my heart that she loved me.

My children are the best things I have in my life. They are what I live for and why I am here on earth. My Father in Heaven entrusted them to me at a time when the world is both full of evil and full of the wonderful of prophecies. They are the best “Saturday’s Warriors”. I am so proud of them and I love them so much. I also classify their spouses and my darling grandchildren with them. I’m sure your ancestors are looking down on all of you with pride and hope for the future.

Well, enough of that. I’ll have to dry my tears and swallow the lump in the throat, so that I can carry on. It’s now DECEMBER. I should be getting sizes for all the PJs I usually give to my grandkids. I really miss it, but it will come again next year. We have been on our mission for six months now, less a week, and sometimes the weeks fly by and sometimes they creep slowly. We attended the lighting of the Christmas lights and manger scene at the London Temple last night (Sunday evening). When the Temple President flipped the switch, I was expecting it to light up like Temple Square. Sadly, it didn’t and I thought to myself, boy am I spoiled. Everyone should have a Temple Square to experience. All of you at home, don’t take it for granted either. We are planning to go to London and see the lights, but they won’t be like Temple Square. It’s the feeling and the Spirit of Christmas or should I say, the Spirit of Christ that make the difference. There is no better feeling in the world.

The Britannia Ward was supposed to provide a beautiful choir for the lighting event, but only half of them made it. Their bus didn’t arrived in time and I never did see it. They must have had to turn back at some point. It’s too bad because I’m sure they had worked hard on this program. What we did hear from the few who actually made it was lovely. 

On our Monday off, we drove into East Grinstead to visit the Greenwich Mean Time line. It travels directly through our little village of East Grinstead. Some of you may remember what the Greenwich Mean Time line is from your Geography lessons in the fifth grade. I did, but know if you don’t know what we are talking about, go ahead and google it up and find out just where we were and why it is there.

0 degrees Longitude

Standing on either side of the Greenwich Mean Time line

Hope you are all getting ready for Christmas. We loved the pictures of our grandkids and their parents decorating Gingerbread houses. Boy, we were impressed with all of them!  Love you Kristy for going to all that work. 

Our Inspiring Apartment View of the Temple

This view is just as beautiful at night when the temple is eluminated

Christmas Shopping Anyone?

Actually, Christmas decorations where out in the UK since October. 

No Thanksgiving to wait for here (not that we wait in the US).

Apparently grandma nearly lost it in this Christmas store. 

You know how she loves Christmas!

Anyone in the market for a $4,500 Christmas/apple tree?

Stand in Holy Places

So sorry—a week has slipped by us and we haven’t written in our blog. Our first week back in the temple was terrific and terrifying. We did have a lot of patrons come. We were super busy and really worked at remembering everything. Both Niel and I came out of it with a few battle scars, but I think we will be able to adjust and get feeling better. The work carries us along and reminds us of the importance of doing the Lord’s work. We are getting to know and love the new Temple Presidency. They are awesome.

This last week, the spiritual thoughts in our prayer meetings have been taken from a talk by Elder Boyd K. Packer, Reverence Invites Revelation (November Ensign 1991). It was very interesting to hear the thought of our fellow workers as they referenced his talk. 

This week we are studying a talk by Elder James E. Faust, Standing in Holy Places (May Ensign 2005). When President Irwin introduced this talk, he told us of an experience he had while he was a student at BYU. He was a “theater major” and was acting in a university performance of (you’ll never guess), 

Once Upon A Mattress

This is a play-DVD that our family (and some of my grandkids) have really enjoyed over the years. So I was interested in what he had to say. The BYU cast of this play had been selected to go to Hollywood to perform it. He was acting in the role of Sextimus (the mute King) and so he had a large part to play. While in Hollywood, they were wined and dined and were able to meet many famous people. They were introduced to all the workings of Hollywood. However, on the way back to Provo, he told his roommates, who were all theater majors that he needed to sign up for some education classes because he was going to become an educator. Well, they were all shocked, as they knew he had been working for a long time on his theater degree. When they questioned him, he told them what he had really learned about theater life. He felt that behind the kind and talented people they had met, he could feel an atmosphere of evil. He had witnessed a lot of immoral behavior. He said that if it were just good versus evil, he could have withstood it. But, it really frightened him that behind the kindness of their hosts, was a deceiving evilness and he could feel himself being led carefully away by it. He recognized right then and there that this theater profession would provide little opportunity for him to be able to stand in holy places. 

The Lord truly blessed him to become an educator. He and his lovely wife just recently returned from being the Mission President in the Czech Republic. He has been leading our training these past two weeks and we enjoy and appreciate his teaching abilities and personality.

Well, this week is turkey week. I want everyone to know that, yes, I’ve made the rolls and cooked the turkeys. We are having about 50 temple ordinance workers and others come on Sunday night. In fact, we just walked in the door from the feast.

Everyone helped with the food and, boy, was it ever good. I am pleased to say that I got many complements on my rolls and honey butter. The English don’t usually have hot Parker House rolls with their meals. Their bread is quite crusty, more like baguettes. So it was a treat to give them some good ole American rolls. Cooking the turkeys was a little bit trickier. There are four ovens (or cookers) in the Accommodation Center kitchen and each one cooks differently.  We cooked two turkeys at the same temperature, 275 degrees, for the same amount of time, 7 hours, and only one got completely done to the point of collapse, like I like them to be. (We ate it anyway.) The best part was that Niel actually helped me with the food, which is totally different from me cooking and him watching football, huh?

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Let us know how the Prime Rib turns out.  And remember,                                                                 

Giving thanks (or being grateful) makes us feel good. It helps us maintain our balance.

To all we give our love and gratitude!   

Niel and Carolee